Month: April 2016

ReCity working to re-write Durham’s story

By Carl Kenney

April 27, 2016

These days, turning an old space into a useful environment is the story of Durham. It has happened to the Golden Belt Building (home to the VOICE), which once produced tobacco products, and the Community Family Life and Recreation Center at Lyon Park, which once was an African-American school on the West End. Similarly, ReCity […]

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Nu Development aims to give back to the community

By Carl Kenney

When Dosali Reed-Bandele and Cimarron Reed first met in the late 1990s, they were in college with Reed-Bandele attending Livingstone College and Reed at Saint Augustine University. “I was visiting a mutual friend at St. Augustine’s and we lost touch. A year later we saw each other at Black College Day in Raleigh — and the […]

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SEEDS Hosts 8th Annual Pie Social

By Carl Kenney

April 22, 2016

Lots of pies will help send a group of young people from Durham across the country to learn about sustainable urban farming, environmental awareness and social accountability. SEEDS (South Eastern Efforts Developing Sustainable Spaces, Inc)  is hosting its 8th Annual Pie Social on May 21 to raise money for the DIG (Durham Inner-City Gardeners) youth […]

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All fun and ga(y)mes: QueerNC gives teens a safe space to connect

By Carl Kenney

April 20, 2016

Durham teens have responded to House Bill 2, better known as the “bathroom bill”. “Durham was one of the most progressive cities in North Carolina, as far as extending rights to the LGBTQ community,” said Nick Buchser, a youth programs coordinator for Raleigh’s QueerNC. “HB2 took away all of that.” With House Bill 2, or […]

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Hillside alumni reunite through song

By Carl Kenney

College towns have become integral parts of the American landscape, making it difficult to find a city where a high school is still a central part of the community. This is not the case in Durham, where Hillside High School has remained a mainstay of the city. Hillside is so vital to its community that […]

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Straight Talk Support Group aims to educate about incarceration

By Carl Kenney

Prison – a place where everyone has on the same outfit, schedules are followed to the second and people live every day not knowing exactly when they’ll get out. But even if somebody is returned to freedom, getting incorporated into society after years behind bars isn’t exactly easy. People who have been granted freedom face […]

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New charter school expands its reach

By Carl Kenney

When you first walk into KIPP Durham College Prep School at 1107 Holloway St., you may not notice anything out of the ordinary. The walls are covered in colorful posters. The occasional child can be seen walking through the hallway. But if you look at the floor the child is walking on, you may notice […]

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Reduce, reuse, expand? The Scrap Exchange celebrates 25 years

By Carl Kenney

 Welcome to Ann May Woodward’s “alternative universe.” The executive director of The Scrap Exchange, a reuse artistic smorgasbord at 2050 Chapel Hill Rd. by the Lakewood Shopping Center, couldn’t help but be happy with the somewhat chaotic, yet consistently sustainable scene that surrounded her on April 16. The Scrap Exchange celebrated its 25 anniversary with its […]

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Swapping food for community engagement

By Carl Kenney

  Bull City Food Swap, organized by Erin Urquhart, is set to make its debut at Fullsteam Brewery on May 9. This will be the first such event to take place in the Triangle area. Urquhart first came up with the idea of holding food swap events when living in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Inspired by […]

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NHS bans cell phones during classes

By Carl Kenney

April 17, 2016

  Northern’s new cell phone policy states that, if a teacher sees a student’s phone in class, they will call the office to have an administrator come to the class to take it. The consequences for the policy are: “1st Offense: The cell phone will be confiscated until the end of the current school day […]

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EMPWR U financial lessons go beyond the numbers

By Carl Kenney

April 6, 2016

Every year on Christmas morning, Johnetta Ruth Alston’s grandchildren were met with stacks of presents in the living room. But when Alston’s daughter lost her job, the family had to cut back.  “There wasn’t no fat white man coming down the chimney because we didn’t have no fireplace in the first place,” Alston said. But […]

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Capturing a developing Durham

By Carl Kenney

Durham has been in a state of rapid development for decades. Old neighborhoods are torn down and reconstructed.  Vacant blocks filled with rubble show projects that were started but never completed. A local artist saw the Durham she grew up in changing before her eyes, so she spent a year creating art to reflect that […]

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New spring break opportunities for East Durham kids

By Carl Kenney

While one mother leisurely planned a spring break trip with her children, another frantically searched for child care. Every year Dajuana Parker, a single mother from Raleigh, takes a trip with her son on his spring break. This year the two took a trip to London with a couple of other family friends. While Parker […]

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Former VOICE editor painting her own future

By Carl Kenney

As Brooklynn Cooper sat in class, something sparked her interest when a fellow student described the College Works Painting program. Cooper, the former 2014-2015 teen editor-in-chief for the Durham VOICE, saw an opportunity for a paid internship she could not resist. College Works Painting is a program that allows students to gain entrepreneurial experience by […]

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Riverside community struggles with potential deportation of one of its own

By Carl Kenney

Imagine the everyday burdens that accompany being a high school student —stress about grades, social anxiety of puberty and looming college admissions. For many, the idea of returning to high school is cringe-worthy, but not for 19-year-old Wildin Acosta. Acosta, a senior at Riverside High School on Rose of Sharon Road, is not fighting to […]

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Racing to recognize our armed forces

By Carl Kenney

April 3, 2016

Back in February, the Hillside High School Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps hosted a 5K at the school’s track. The event was done to celebrate 100 years of JROTC. The 5K takes place annually to celebrate one more year of JROTC, and it is required that most cadets enrolled in the program participate in the […]

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Our fallen Knight: A tribute to David Pounds

By Carl Kenney

  On March 8, 2016, at about 10:30 p.m., young Northern Knight, David Pounds, was shot by someone from a passing vehicle on the 1400 block of Maplewood Drive and was pronounced dead at a local hospital.  He was 15 years old. Now, I didn’t know David personally, but we did attend the same school. […]

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